Father's Day
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "It's never been this bad before. I've always been able to deal with it."


**A/N: It's Father's Day and all and I'm just wondering how Kevin would deal with this.**

**Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own anything.**

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><p>After two rings, Gwen snatched her phone up off her dresser after reluctantly putting down her copy of 'Blue is for Nightmares'. The redhead brushed a few strands of her fiery hair away from her ear before pressing the button on her phone and holding the small device up to her ear. "Hey, Kevin." The only reason she knew it was him was because he was the only one who ever called her during the day. Ben usually checked in at night around seven o' clock. Kevin was always calling during the day or around midnight because he had no sense of time in the garage or in his room, the two places he ever went.<p>

"This is his mom, but good try, sweetie."

Her finger was pulled out of the book altogether, the redhead not even bothering to dogear the page or to slide in a quick slip of paper as a bookmark. "What'd he do now?" She was already getting up off the bed and pulling her hair up in a ponytail as the phone was held to her ear with her shoulder.

The woman on the other end of the line paused. "For starters, I don't know where he is." There was another pause. Gwen hardly noticed. She was busy fishing under her bed for her ballet flats. "Second, I already checked with Ben and he didn't know. Third, I was hoping he was with you."

"He's not." That was already assumed, Gwen knew, but she felt better saying it aloud just to clarify things. She found one shoe and tugged it out from beneath the bedskirt and then found the second, also bringing that one out. "Don't worry, I'll find him."

"That's why I called, dear." There was a slight intake of breath on her end of the phone. "Just bring him home safe."

"I will." She tried putting her shoes on one-handed, the other hand busy with holding the phone as her shoulder moved to keep her hand stretching down to her feet. "I'll call you when I find him." The conversation ended there as Gwen let the call drop and was pulling on her other shoe as she hopped on one foot out of her room.

It was maybe a forty-minute walk to the hangar. Gwen was sure that Kevin wouldn't be at the garage; that'd be too easy. And if he wasn't at home, where else could he be? He hated Mr. Smoothy, giving him no reason to be there. Burger Shack was one of his hangouts, but that too would be someplace simple. The only other places he would be were in the hangar with his jet or out dealing illegal tech. With the tech not even being factored into the equation, Gwen knew he had to be with his jet. His mother knew about the jet, but it wasn't one of the places he was usually at. Despite how much Kevin loved each of his vehicles whether by air or by land, his main love was his car. So thinking about him spending time on that jet was something out of the ordinary.

"Kevin." She didn't ask. She just knew. The hatch had been open. The car had been pulled alongside of the jet. It was a dead-giveaway that her boyfriend was inside. The girl walked up the path that led into the cargo hold of the jet. She kept going, knowing he wouldn't be somewhere obvious. He was Kevin. What more could be said? He never liked doing things the simple way.

There was silence.

"Kevin, I know you're in here." She kept going, opening doors to get into different holds and different rooms, just waiting to find the dark form of her boyfriend somewhere. "Just answer me to make this easier."

Gwen wasn't afraid. How could she be? She knew Kevin wasn't a killer, not anymore. She trusted him more than anyone else. Even more than Ben. That was why she hadn't called her cousin in on this one. Kevin, if he was in the shape Gwen thought he was in, wouldn't want Ben anywhere near him. It was safer this way. For everyone. She wasn't scared. Kevin wouldn't hurt her. He just wasn't as strong as he liked to pretend.

A door opened behind her. Gwen turned quickly to see a dark form in the back of the cargo hold. A dark form that she'd missed earlier. It was a mere shape in the darkness, a figure, a body. With one hand outstretched to reach the button that would open the door. A silent thing in the darkness.

"Kevin." Her voice contained relief more than anything else. She was just grateful that he was there and not hurt or anything. The girl took a few steps to find that Kevin was sitting there with his knees tucked to his chest with one hand around them and another resting on one of the boxes that he was hiding between. Her emerald orbs stared down at him in silent pain. He looked so weak, so fragile, so… broken. She wasted no time in kneeling down and leaning against the boxes, her jade gaze still on him. "Are you alright?"

He was quiet for a long while before replying, "I hate today."

The redhead knew what today was. How could she not? She was upset that her own father was on a trip across the country for a business meeting that he could've just videochatted at instead of leaving home. But she could deal. They'd celebrate the next weekend. It was Father's Day, after all. It was flexible for most people.

It was heartbreaking that it wasn't flexible for Kevin. He couldn't just push it off for another weekend. He couldn't just wait for his dad to come home to celebrate and say "Happy Father's Day" because his dad wasn't coming home. Gwen felt tears stinging her eyes when she put the pieces of this together. Because Kevin was actually showing his weakness. He was sitting there in mourning, hiding himself away so he didn't get called out for being pathetic and frail.

"I'm sorry." It sounded like nothing when she said it. It felt like she wasn't saying enough, but what else could she do? How do you talk to someone who doesn't want to be comforted? How do you talk to someone who has a hard enough head to rival Rath? It's impossible. Gwen leaned her head against the box that the rest of her body was pressed against.

"Nothin' you can do about it."

Sadly, he was right. But if there was anything that Gwen could do about it, she'd help the best she could. There was nothing Gwen hated more than seeing Kevin so vulnerable. Never before had she ever had to watch him just sit there and act like he was a child. She'd seen him go from monster to human without flinching, getting right back up and asking for a kiss. She'd seen him mutate, never backing down, never giving in, never being weak. But now…

Some subjects were too raw for him to handle.

"It's never been this bad before. I've always been able to deal with it. There was never a calendar in the Null Void, so I didn't need to care." His voice was slightly cracked, but Gwen couldn't see any silver tears shining on his pallid cheeks. "I wasn't living with my mom until this year, so family was never that important to me." His head turned from looking out of the little opening that shed a sliver of light on him to stare at the side of the boxes, trying to hide the pain. "Now that I'm actually acting normal, I can't forget."

Timidly, Gwen reached out with gentle fingers and brushed away a few strands of her boyfriend's raven-colored hair. No words could sound right. She couldn't think of anything to say. Kevin was never one to want condolences, and Gwen wasn't about to be the one to upset him further. So she moved the hand that had touched his dark locks and let it stray down to the hand that was attached to the arm wrapped around his knees. If words didn't help, maybe actions could. Just a little bit.

Dark eyes slowly coming back into focus and finding her, Kevin gave a slight smile. The pain was still evident in his features, but he was fighting it. His other hand was drawn back down from where it had lay upon the box to leave him curled up in the crevice between the two crates. Then he quietly scooted over to make a bit of space for his little redhead.

Gwen wasted no time in shifting into the small space, her body instantly snuggling up against her boyfriend. It wasn't out of choice, it was just that there was so little room. She could feel his warm breath on her skin as she looked up at him, his gaze once more straying away from her. Her head rested on his shoulder, which resulted in her fiery mane tumbling down his dark shirt like a waterfall of fire. "Are you going to be alright?"

For a long time, he didn't answer. The silence hung in the air like a fog, but it wasn't force nor was it awkward. Just a calm quiet hanging between them. He didn't answer for maybe ten minutes or so, but when he did, he said, "Eventually."

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><p><strong>AN: I couldn't find a way to end this nicely, so I put it on that note and hoped that it sounded decent… Meant to have this up yesterday, but that didn't happen. Review please.**

**~Sky**


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